Oregon St. Searching For Scoring at Washington St.

Oregon St. (11-5, 2-2) at Washington St. (9-7, 3-1) / Beasley Coliseum, Pullman, WA / 6 PM PST / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM

Game Notes / Washington St. Games Notes

Oregon St. wraps up their annual Washington road trip tonight, with a stopoff in Pullman to take on Washington St., in the 291st meeting of the northwest land grant colleges, the 8th most played rivalry in college basketball.

The Beavers will be looking for some scoring, after losing to Washington 56-43 Thursday night in Seattle, in a game they suffered through scoring droughts of over 8, 7 1/2, and near 4 minutes in length, and then went almost 3 1/2 minutes at the end of the game without scoring from the floor, during which the Huskies made the 10-0 run that put the game out of reach.

Oregon St. struggled offensively all night, shooting less than 32%, mostly due to a disastrous 21% first half, and only 25% on 3 pointers for the game. The Beavers also never got to the free throw line until into the second half.

The Beavers will need a lot of additional offense to keep up with the Cougs, Washington St. piled up 108 points, including 94 in the first 40 minutes, of their overtime win over Oregon Thursday night. This after torching the Huskies for 80 last Saturday in Seattle, for their second consecutive Pac-12 road win, as many as the Cougs managed over the last 2 seasons combined.

Fortunately, the Washington St. defense allowed Oregon 99 points, and Washington 77.

And the Cougs don't have a high volume shot blocker like the Huskies' Robert Upshaw, the NCAA leader, who rejected 6 shots.

But the Beavers will again be without Victor Robbins, their 3rd leading scorer, at over 10 points per game, who will be serving the second game of his 10 game suspension for violating some unspecified Athletic Department policy.

Robbins' minutes are as much of an issue, as Olaf Schaftenaar seemed to tire, and made only 2 of 9 shots.

Payton played a game high 38 minutes, but had only 4 points, as only Malcolm Duvivier and Jarmal Reid, who had the entirety of Oregon St.'s offensive production off the bench, got to double digits against Washington, and both just barely, both posting only 10 point nights.

The Cougs filled it up from several places, as post Josh Hawkinson had a game high 26 points, and also a game high 13 rebounds, while DaVonte Lacy, Washington St.'s leading scorer at 17.4 per game, added 24, and this was without being able to finish the overtime, after cramping up.

Ike Iroegbu also added 20, and Brett Boese came off the Cougar bench for 16 more.

It will be a meet-up with an old friend of sorts for Oregon St. fans, as longtime Oregon coach Ernie Kent has taken over the Cougar team this season.

After an up and down start to the season, Kent has the Cougs coming together, winning 3 in a row, and 5 of their last 6.

Oregon St. has been invincible at home, but are again looking to replicate that level of performance away from Gill Coliseum. Wayne Tinkle's team has only 1 road win, in overtime at Portland, this season, and have dropped their last 3 out of town since then. The Beavers have won 3 straight against the Cougars, and hold a 166-124 edge all time.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com